9 cool eats for beating the heat in Orange County

• September 5, 2024

Resistance is futile: As the sun fires up its flares (temperatures are expected to reach a sizzling 100-plus inland and in the mid-90s along the coast), avoid toiling away at the stove or jiggering a cross breeze inside your home. Instead, head to one of these nine spots that proudly max out their AC and prepare chilled dishes so you don’t have to. From savory cold-poached chicken to velvety soft serve, here are a handful of spots to retreat from the heat while you eat.

Blue Scoop Creamery (Brea, Yorba Linda): Kim and Chris Rhodes’ Southern-style ice cream shop offers house-made flavors like Twin Mint, PB Situation (peanut butter ice cream with chocolate and peanut butter-covered feuilletine flakes), peppermint stick, movie munchies (loaded with cinema house snacks), Grape Nuts, blueberry and vegan-friendly almond chip. 391 S. State College Blvd., Brea; 5105 Richfield Rd, Yorba Linda.

Cha Redefine (Costa Mesa): Celebrating its five-year anniversary with buy-one-get-one on all drinks this weekend at its Costa Mesa location inside the Collage Culinary Experience, from Sept. 6 until Sept. 8, South Coast Plaza’s first real boba shop offers a bevy of beverages made with fresh fruit (sans powders or syrups) and premium teas. Cha Redefine also recently launched a new set of drinks featuring drinkable mochi. Other cool menu highlights include a peach milk tea made with blended peaches, tea and milk and; matcha soft serve; and Sri Lankan ceylon tea soft serve. 3333 Bristol St., Costa Mesa.

SEE ALSO: Taco Bell comes out with Baja Blast gelato

Cali Dumpling (Orange): While ordering some dumplings at Cal Dumpling’s new brick-and-mortar space, be sure to grab the Banana Mint Lemonade. An odd yet satisfying flavor pairing. 149 N. Glassell St., Orange.

Kim Rhodes, co-owner of Blue Scoop Creamery in Brea, holds an ice cream sundae, on Thursday, Jan. 25, 2025. It is the second location of the company. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Filo Dessert Co. (Orange): Mo Abusham’s new space in Old Towne Orange offers some of the county’s best booza, a resin-based ice cream noted for its stretchy texture. While Filo features dozens of flavors (all of which are made in-house) I recommend the exceedingly refreshing lemon-mint or the caramel-spicey Biscoff cookie. 227 E. Chapman Ave., Orange.

Hello Kitty Grand Cafe (Irvine): Head to the Irvine Spectrum for some Dole Whip soft serve (a blend of pineapple and vanilla soft serve) that comes to you in a downright darling Hello Kitty cup. 860 Spectrum Center Drive, Irvine.

Lucky Dog Gelato (San Clemente): Don’t worry; I didn’t forget human’s best-friend: In addition to gelatos (mint stracciatella and black sesame are my personal picks) and sorbettos (kiwi lime or mixed berry are just two ideal dead-of-summer flavors), this award-winning gelato pitstop in San Clemente also makes dogelato, a canine-friendly ice cream suitable for your overheated pooch. 1008 S. El Camino Real, San Clemente.

In addition to award-winning gelato, Lucky Dog Gelato in San Clemente makes dogelato, canine-safe ice cream. (Photo by Brock Keeling/SCNG)

Marché Moderne (Newport Beach): This thrice James Beard Award-nominated spot along Pacific Coast Highway offers a menu staple sure to satiated sun-kissed diners: Hamachi Crudo, which is so popular that it’s been on the menu since Marché Moderne opened. Silky slices of sushi grade hamachi are paired with a yuzu-jalapeño sorbet, lemon oil and cilantro. 7862 Pacific Coast Highway, Newport Beach.

SEE ALSO: The best thing we ate at Southern California restaurants in August

Mayfield (San Juan Capistrano): A seasonal melons and prosciutto dish uses melons plucked from Weiser Farms and speck imported from Northern Italy. The simple yet flavor-packed sweet and savory dish is topped with extra virgin olive oil, basil and Aleppo pepper and Marcona almonds. (Bonus: You can take the train to Mayfield, located a few steps from the platform, should you not want to fire up your gas guzzler.) 31761 Camino Capistrano, San Juan Capistrano.

Hamachi crudo with mango yuzu sorbet at Marché Moderne in Newport Beach. (Photo courtesy of Marché Moderne)

Paradise Dynasty (Costa Mesa): The dumpling and noodle joint in South Coast Plaza now has a new cold-poached chicken dish served with a spicy Sichuan dipping sauce with lettuce wraps. Another ideal dish during the summer months is the chilled silken tofu in soy vinaigrette and topped with crispy onion. 3333 Bristol St., Costa Mesa

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Remicone (Stanton): Remicone, a South Korean soft serve concept, just opened at Rodeo 39 Public Market. The shop serves up fun and playful twists on a classic treat, with whimsical toppings that include fresh spun cotton candy to pop rocks and dried strawberry to red bean paste and boba. 12885 Beach Blvd., Stanton.

Yoshiharu Ramen (Laguna Niguel, Orange): Japanese ramen restaurant, with locations in Laguna Niguel and Orange, features a chilled ramen, also known as hiyashi chuka. For a post-ramen treat, don’t miss out on equally refreshing macaron ice cream sandwiches (in flavors like pistachio, matcha, strawberry and more) or mochi ice cream.  32341 Golden Lantern, Laguna Niguel; 1891 Tustin St, Orange

​ Orange County Register 

More heat, more people: Danger in inland California

• September 5, 2024

On a recent sunny afternoon in Lancaster, Cassandra Hughes looked for a place to cool down. She set up a lawn chair in the shade at the edge of a park and spent the afternoon with a coloring book, listening to hip-hop music.

Reaching a high of 97 degrees, this August day was pleasant by Lancaster standards — a breeze offered temporary relief. But just the week before, during a brutal heat wave, the high hit 109. For Hughes, the Mojave Desert city has been a dramatic change from the mild weather in El Segundo, the coastal city where she lived before moving in April.

Hughes, a retired nurse, is among the Californians who are moving inland in search of affordable housing and more space. But it comes at a price: dangerous heat driven by climate change, accompanied by sky-high electric bills.

A CalMatters analysis shows that many California cities with the biggest recent population booms are the same places that will experience the most high heat days — a potentially deadly confluence. The combination of a growing population and rising extreme heat will put more people at risk of illnesses and pose a challenge for unprepared local officials.

As greenhouse gasses warm the planet, more people around the globe are experiencing intensifying heat waves and higher temperatures. An international panel of climate scientists recently reported that it is “virtually certain” that “there has been increases in the intensity and duration of heatwaves and in the number of heatwave days at the global scale.”

CalMatters identified the California communities most at risk — the top 1% of the state’s more than 8,000 census tracts that have grown by more than 500 people in recent years and are expected to experience the most intensifying heat under climate change projections.

The results: Lancaster and Palmdale in Los Angeles County; Apple Valley, Victorville and Hesperia in San Bernardino County; Lake Elsinore and Murrieta in Riverside County; and the Central Valley cities of Visalia, Fresno, Clovis and Tulare.

By 2050, neighborhoods in those 11 inland cities are expected to experience 25 or more high heat days every year, according to data from researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of Colorado Boulder and UC Berkeley. A high heat day is when an area’s maximum temperature exceeds the top 2% of its historic high — in other words, temperatures that soar above some of the highest levels ever recorded there this century. (The projections were based on an intermediate scenario for future planet-warming emissions.)

Many of these places facing this dangerous combination of worsening heat waves and growing populations are low-income, Latino communities.

“We are seeing much more rapid warming of inland areas that were already hotter to begin with,” said UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain.

“There’s an extreme contrast between the people who live within 5 to 10 miles of the beach and people who live as little as 20 miles inland,” he said. “It’s these inland areas where we see people who…are killed by this extreme heat or whose lives are at least made miserable.”

While temperatures are projected to rise across the state, neighborhoods along the coast will remain much more temperate.

San Francisco, Santa Barbara and Long Beach, for instance, are not projected to experience significantly more high heat days.

San Francisco will average six days a year in the 2050s exceeding 87 degrees, compared to four days in the 2020s. In contrast, Visalia will jump from 17 days exceeding 103 degrees to 32 — more than a full month.

Unlike the growing inland populations, the cooler coastal counties, — where more than two-thirds of Californians now live — are expected to lose about 1.3 million residents by 2050, according to the California Department of Finance.

High temperatures can be deadly, triggering heat strokes and heart attacks, and exacerbating asthma, diabetes, kidney failure and other illnesses, even some infectious diseases.

Cassandra Hughes sits in the shade in Lancaster on Aug. 15, 2024. The temperature that day reached 97 degrees — cooler than recent heat waves. She strategically cools her home to keep electric bills low.  “I have air conditioning, a swamp cooler and two fans,” she said. Photo by Ted Soqui for CalMatters

In California, extreme heat contributed to more than 5,000 hospitalizations and almost 10,600 emergency department visits over the past decade — and the health effects “fall disproportionately on already overburdened” Black people, Latinos and Native Americans, according to a recent state report.

City and county officials must grapple with how to protect residents who already are struggling to stay cool and pay their electric bills. Despite the warnings, many local governments have failed to respond.

A 2015 state law required municipalities to update their general plans, safety plans or hazard mitigation plans to include steps countering the effects of climate change, such as cooling roofs and pavement or urban greening projects.

But only about half of California’s 540 cities and counties had complied with new plans as of last year, according to the environmental nonprofit Climate Resolve.

Hellish reality?

An exodus from California’s coastal regions is a decades-long trend, said Eric McGhee, a policy director who researches California demographic changes at the Public Policy Institute of California. People are moving away from the coasts, especially the Los Angeles region and Bay Area, to elsewhere in California and other states.

About 104,000 people moved from the Bay Area to the Sacramento area, the Inland Empire and the San Joaquin Valley in 2021 and 2022, and about 95,000 moved from Los Angeles, Ventura and Orange County to those same inland regions, according to data collected from the Census.

McGhee said most people moving inland are low-income and middle-income Californians looking to expand their families, find cheaper housing and live comfortably — and they’re willing to sacrifice other privileges, like cool weather.

California is “becoming more expensive, more exclusive in the places that are least likely to experience extreme heat,” Swain said. As a result, he said, “the people who are most at risk of extreme heat” — those with limited financial resources — “are precisely the people experiencing extreme heat.”

The San Bernardino County city of Victorville — which is 55% Hispanic and has median incomes far below the state average — is among California’s fastest growing areas, adding more than 12,500 new residents between 2018 and 2022. Nearby Apple Valley and Hesperia grew by about 3,000 and 6,000 people, respectively, while Lancaster, Palmdale and Visalia added between about 10,000 and 12,000.  

In Victorville on an August day that reached 97 degrees, Eduardo Ceja wiped sweat from his forehead as he worked at Superior Grocers store, retrieving shopping carts.

The work is often grueling in this Mojave Desert town. He sometimes drinks five bottles of water to stay hydrated as he works, with the concrete parking lot radiating the heat back onto his skin. When he’s done pushing carts, he recovers in the air conditioned store.

Ceja, 20, moved to nearby Apple Valley about a year ago, around the same time the new grocery store opened. He used to sleep on his parents’ couch in the San Gabriel Valley town of Covina, east of Los Angeles, which is often more than 10 degrees cooler than Apple Valley on summer days. But he wanted a place to himself at a low cost, so now he pays $400 a month for a bedroom in his brother’s home.

Since he moved here, he’s observed many businesses, including his own employer, expand or open in Apple Valley.

“I notice a lot of people from L.A. are coming here,” he said. It makes sense to him. “Out here, the apartments have more space.”

Apple Valley Mayor Scott Nassif, who has lived there since 1959, said days over 100 degrees used to be rare. Now week-long heat waves above 110 degrees are commonplace. Photo by Ted Soqui for CalMatters

Apple Valley Mayor Scott Nassif has seen his desert town grow and get hotter over his lifetime. When he moved to the area in 1959, only a few thousand people lived there. Now it’s home to more than 75,000 people.

Nassif remembers only a few days that would reach above 100 degrees and multiple snowstorms in the winter. Now, snowstorms are rare, and week-long heat waves above 110 degrees are commonplace.

The extreme heat “is noticeable,” he said. “I don’t think there was a day under 100 in July.”

Nassif attributes the town’s growing population to its good schools, a semi-rural lifestyle and affordable housing for families.

In the high desert town of Hesperia, growth is evident. Banners advertising “New homes!” are posted throughout the town, luring potential buyers to tract home communities. Residents are cautiously eyeing a new development, called the Silverwood Community, that has recently broken ground.

The massive, 9,000-plus acre development is authorized for more than 15,000 new homes, according to its website. A video on its website coaxes potential buyers: “True believers know the California dream is within reach.”

An aerial view of the Silverwood Community, a housing development under construction in Hesperia, on Aug. 16, 2024. The development could include as many as 15,000 new homes to the desert city, which currently is home to about 100,000 people. Photo by Ted Soqui for CalMatters

Hesperia, which is almost two-thirds Hispanic and also has median incomes far below the state average, is anticipating continued growth as housing costs soar in other parts of California. Its planning includes rezoning some areas to allow for higher-density housing, which could bring more affordable housing, said Ryan Leonard, Hesperia’s principal planner.

“If people are willing to make a commute to San Bernardino, Riverside or Ontario — a 45-minute to an hour commute — they can afford to buy a home here when they might not be able to afford that same home down the hill,” Leonard said.

Summer electric bills soar to $500 or more

In the California towns at most risk of intensifying heat, people already are saddled with big power bills because of their reliance on air conditioning.

For instance, households in Lancaster, Palmdale and Apple Valley pay on average $200 to $259 a month for electricity, compared to a $177 average in Southern California Edison’s service area, according to California Public Utilities Commission data as of May, 2023.

In summer months, average power use in these communities nearly triples compared to spring months, so some people’s bills can climb above $500.

And their bills are likely to grow as climate change intensifies heat waves and utility rates rise: Californians are paying about twice as much for electricity than a decade ago. The state’s rates are among the highest in the nation.

Diane Carlson moved to Palmdale, north of Los Angeles, 30 years ago. The housing was much cheaper and she wanted to move where her children could attend school near where they live.

Over the years, she’s felt the temperatures in Palmdale rise.

Carlson said her electric bill during the summers used to average about $500, a significant chunk of her household budget. About four years ago, though, she had solar panels installed on their home, which cut her bill in half.

“You can’t not run the air conditioner all day, even if you run it low,” she said. “You wouldn’t survive otherwise. The heat is too oppressive.”

With multiple days in the summer reaching at least 115 degrees, Carlson is conscious that there may be a future where Palmdale isn’t livable for her anymore.

“Will it get as hot as Death Valley?” she wondered.

Death Valley, the hottest place on Earth, reached record temperatures in July, averaging 108.5 degrees; the high was 121.9, tying a 1917 record.  In comparison, Palmdale by 2050 is projected to have 25 days where the maximum temperature exceeds 105, up from nine days in the 2010s.

Carlson said she’d consider moving to the East Coast, where she’s originally from. But she’d face hurricanes rather than the heat. It all comes down to making a decision: “Which negatives are you willing to deal with?” 

An infrared thermometer In Lancaster shows the  street surface temperature reached 137 degrees on Aug. 15, 2024.

Hughes, who lives in subsidized housing in Lancaster, said surviving the heat means constantly checking the weather forecast and strategically cooling her home to keep electricity costs low.  “I have air conditioning, a swamp cooler and two fans,” she said.

On a day when the temperature doesn’t reach triple digits, the air conditioner might stay off; she opens the windows and turns on the fans instead.

Local leaders say they know more must be done to protect their residents.

Lancaster opens cooling centers in libraries for residents who need respite from the heat. During heat waves, residents ride buses for free, and city programs provide water and other resources to homeless people.

“Is it adequate? Of course it’s not adequate,” said Mayor R. Rex Parris. “If you’ve got people who don’t read or don’t get a newspaper sitting in a sweltering apartment, the information is not getting to them and we know it.”

Parris said air conditioning is necessary for families to stay cool in the hot desert summers, but with utility costs so high, it’s becoming a luxury.

With that in mind, he said the city is prioritizing hydrogen energy, which could lower electric bills in the long-term. A new housing tract will be powered by solar panels and batteries that store power, backed up by hydrogen fuel cells, which will be cheaper than if the homes drew energy entirely from the grid, said Jason Caudl, head of Lancaster Energy.

Nassif, the Apple Valley mayor, said his town helps residents finance costly rooftop solar panels that can cut their power bills.

“Educating our public on how to save on their electric bills is a big thing, because you can’t live up here without air conditioning,” Nassif said.

Cooling centers aren’t enough

On a Saturday morning in Visalia, as temperatures climbed to 99 degrees, Maribel Jimenez brought her 2-year-old son to an indoor playground to beat the heat. She sat at a kid-sized table with her son, Mateo, as he played with toy screws and blocks.

Jimenez, 33, has lived in Visalia her whole life. She grew up on a dairy farm and remembers playing outdoors for hours in the summers. But things have changed. She can’t imagine letting her son play outdoors under the scorching sun. She worries he’s not getting the outdoor playtime he should be getting.

“It’s definitely gotten much hotter,” Jimenez said. “You can’t even have your kids outside. We want to take him out to the playground but it’s too hot. By the time it cools down in the evening, it’s his bedtime.”

Other times, she and her family go to the mall for walks, or anywhere where there’s air conditioning.

“As long as he’s out, he’s happy,” she said. “We try our best to protect him.”

Maribel Jimenez and Oscar Olmedo play with their son Mateo in the shade at the ImagineU Children’s Museum in Visalia on Aug. 17, 2024. They say they have trouble finding places where their son can cool off on hot summer days. Photo by Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters/CatchLight Local

The effects of extreme heat on the body can happen quickly and can affect people of all ages and health conditions. Once symptoms of heat stroke begin — increased heart rate and a change in mental status — cooling off within 30 minutes is crucial to survival, said Tomás Aragón, director of the California Department of Public Health

Many municipalities react to extreme heat by following state or county rules, which often involve opening cooling centers in public places when temperatures rise above a certain level for multiple days in a row.

“You want people to be in a space where your body can control its core temperature,” Aragón said. “It’s safer to be in an air conditioned place (that) cools your body down. That’s what cooling centers are for. I tell people, go to the supermarket, go to the library, go to a cooling center, go and just let your body cool down.”

“It’s not just about preventing deaths and other terrible outcomes of heat waves … It’s really about having livable communities where kids can play outside and street vendors can run their businesses without risk of overexposure.”

Ali Frazzini, los angeles county’s Chief Sustainability office

But community advocates say cooling centers are ineffective because they’re underused. Many people are unaware of them, and others have no transportation to reach them.

“I think everyone is used to that being the answer for what we do when it gets extremely hot,” said Jonathan Parfrey, executive director of Climate Resolve. “We need to expand our imagination to figure out other ways of taking care of people.”

Victorville has complied with the 2015 state law requiring plans to handle climate change, and Hesperia is in the process of updating its plans.

But Los Angeles County is an example of a local government that has gone above and beyond to comply, Parfrey said.

The county has updated its emergency preparedness plans and is in the early phases of developing a heat-specific plan for unincorporated areas, which will include urban greening and changes to the built environment to make neighborhoods cooler, said Ali Frazzini, policy director at the county’s Chief Sustainability office.

Families play in the water park area of Adventure Park to cool off in Visalia on Aug. 17, 2024. Photo by Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters/CatchLight Local

“It’s not just about preventing deaths and other terrible outcomes of heat waves, although that’s extremely important,” Frazzini said. “It’s really about having livable communities where kids can play outside and street vendors can run their businesses without risk of overexposure.”

Parfrey said the state plays a role, but “they’re not in charge of the roads or building codes or where you put a water fountain or how you build a local park. All of that has to be done at a local level.”

In 2022, the Newsom administration issued an Extreme Heat Action Plan outlining state steps to make California more resilient to extreme heat. That includes funding new community resilience centers where people can cool down as well as find resources or shelter during other emergencies, such as wildfires. It’s a model that some community advocates prefer over traditional cooling centers that are underutilized.

The state has granted almost $98 million for 24 projects so far, said Anna Jane Jones, who leads development of the centers for the state’s Strategic Growth Council.  

In Visalia, Jimenez said her family doesn’t have many options for cool spaces where her young son can be entertained.

At home, the family uses the air conditioner sparingly and keeps the blinds closed. During a heat wave, their power bill can climb to $250. If the bills were lower, she’d use the air conditioner all the time “We have to do what we have to do,” she said.

Jimenez and her husband have thought twice about expanding their family and have floated the idea of moving somewhere else, but many of the affordable options, like Texas or Arizona, are even hotter than Visalia.

“Global warming is a thing, and the heat isn’t getting any better anytime soon,” she said. “Everybody’s paying the price.”

​ Orange County Register 

Soccer star Alex Morgan announces retirement

• September 5, 2024

U.S. women’s national soccer team legend and Diamond Bar native Alex Morgan announced Thursday that she is retiring.

Morgan, 35, made the announcement in a social media video, in which she also announced that she’s pregnant with her second child.

Morgan’s last game will be Sunday as the San Diego Wave FC hosts the North Carolina Courage.

Morgan leaves behind an incredible legacy with the national team. She scored 123 goals (fifth all-time), recorded 53 career assists (ninth all-time). She was a member of two World Cup winning-teams in 2015 and 2019 and helped lead the Americans to an Olympic gold medal in 2012 in London.

She has spent the past three seasons with Wave FC.

Morgan was a somewhat surprising exclusion from this summer’s U.S. Olympic roster in June. Morgan had played on three consecutive Olympic squads, but was not one of the five forwards selected for the Paris Games nor was she one of the four alternates.

In a message on social media, Morgan expressed her disappointment and unwavering support.

“Today, I’m disappointed about not having the opportunity to represent our country on the Olympic stage. This will always be a tournament that is close to my heart and I take immense pride any time I put on the crest. In less than a month, I look forward to supporting this team and cheering them on alongside the rest of our country. LFG.”

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The Americans, in their first international competition under new coach Emma Hayes, wound up bringing home the gold medal with a 1-0 victory over Brazil on Aug. 10.

Morgan’s 224 caps and 123 goals are each the most among active U.S. players and rank ninth and fifth, respectively, in program history.

More to come on this story.

​ Orange County Register 

Housing market picks up, with sales near two-year high

• September 5, 2024

Southern California’s housing market gained momentum in July, with prices holding steady at all-time highs and sales hitting the second-highest level of the past two years.

Lower mortgage rates and an increased number of homes for sale boosted transactions, although homes now are taking longer to sell due to increased competition among homeowners.

“The market’s picked back up,” said Jordan Levine, chief economist for the California Association of Realtors. “(Mortgage) rates started to go down in June and continued to go down into July. … I think that the market just continues to be pretty sensitive to these changes in rates. I would say, almost even hypersensitive.”

The median price of a Southern California home — or the price at the midpoint of all sales — was up nearly 6% to $775,000, matching the record high reached in April and June, real estate data firm CoreLogic reported Wednesday, Sept. 4.

The region has seen year-over-year price gains for 13 straight months.

See also: ‘Poltergeist’ house in Simi Valley finds a buyer after 45 years

Home sales, meanwhile, rose almost 14% to 17,462 transactions in July, CoreLogic figures show.

During the past two years, just two other months — June 2023 and this past May — have seen sales rise above 17,000 transactions.

Despite the gains, 2024 is shaping up as the third-slowest year on record, with 105,000 homes changing hands through July, CoreLogic figures show. Just two other years — 2008 and 2023 — had fewer sales seven months in.

July’s sales tally — the fourth-lowest in records dating back to the late 1980s — remains 65% below the average for that month.

Falling mortgage rates are helping to revive the market, however. Average rates have dropped almost a full percentage point over the past four months, boosting the buying power for home shoppers.

A buyer who could afford a $770,000, median-priced home in May (when rates averaged 7.2%), now can afford to buy an $841,000 home with the same monthly payment, thanks to mortgage rates now averaging at 6.4%.

See also: Software illegally inflated rents, including in Southern California, US lawsuit alleges

In addition, the number of for-sale listings has increased steadily this year.

The six-county region had almost 53,000 homes for sale as of July, according to online brokerage Redfin. While still well below average, it’s up 25% from July 2023 levels.

“I think the new listings have helped both the transaction numbers go up, and we’re starting to see a some moderation in price growth as well,” said Levine, CAR chief economist.

Today’s buyers “are less shell shocked,” said Culver City real estate agent Heather Coombs Perez.

“Now, I feel like it’s a slightly different pool of buyers, … and they’re not dealing with as many obstacles as they were last year,” she said.

With more homes on the market, properties also are taking longer to sell.

In July, Southern California homes averaged 34 days on the market, compared with 29 days a year earlier, according to Redfin.

The time needed to sell every home on the market at the current buying pace increased to 87 days, up from 55 days in March, according to data from Steve Thomas’ “Reports on Housing.”

“Expectations of multiple offers and short market times is simply not today’s reality,” Thomas wrote this week in his latest dispatch. “Instead, there is a lot more seller competition. It used to take days to secure an offer, but for many, it is now taking weeks or months.”

While sellers clearly had an advantage in last year’s market when listings were near a 12-year low, today’s market is “very nuanced,” said Coombs Perez.

“It’s not cut and dry,” she said. “Sellers are not having as easy of a time, and nor are buyers.”

Among Southern California counties, Riverside and San Bernardino were the only ones to see home prices rise from June, CoreLogic figures show.

Sales, however, increased month-to-month in every county but one: San Bernardino.

Prices and sales, nonetheless, were up from year-ago levels across the board.

Here’s a county-by-county breakdown of sales and median prices, with annual percentage changes:

— Los Angeles County’s median rose 7.9% to $890,000; sales were up 15.7% to 5,654 transactions.

— Orange County’s median rose 10.3% to $1.18 million; sales were up 11.5% to 2,450 transactions.

— Riverside County’s median rose 6.4% to $585,000; sales were up 16.7% to 3,381 transactions.

— San Bernardino County’s median rose 6.4% to $500,000; sales were up 9.3% to 2,503 transactions.

— San Diego County’s median rose 4.1% to $885,000; sales were up 10.4% to 2,839 transactions.

— Ventura County’s median rose 3.2% to $842,000; sales were up 18.9% to 635 transactions.

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​ Orange County Register 

This election season, every vote is about housing

• September 5, 2024

This time of even-numbered years is always a flurry of activity. Beyond the yearly back-to-school activities, candidates are making their rounds, raising money, and jockeying for visibility in front of voters on various issues of concern.

As cofounder and director of Orange County’s YIMBY organization, it is my self-appointed mission to make sure that housing– specifically the shortage of housing affordable to low- and middle-income residents, working families, young professionals, and seniors on fixed incomes– is among the top of issues voters raise with their candidates. Recent polling by UC Irvine’s School of Social Ecology suggests that it is.

The 2023 UCI Poll in OC found Affordable Housing and Homelessness as the top issues of concern for OC residents. This year’s poll showed that 51% of the respondents have thought about leaving Orange County, and 78% said the reason was the cost of housing. High housing costs are a pressing issue not just for those on the bottom end of our socioeconomic ladder, but also for adult children of long-time Orange County homeowners who must tell their parents, “We’re moving; we just can’t afford to live in Orange County anymore.”

What those parents may not know, or perhaps know and don’t want to admit, is that largely this is a problem of our own making. Longstanding NIMBYism and opposition to denser forms of housing has created a shortage in every Orange County city and driven prices so high that our young adults see no future for themselves in the communities where they grew up. Sacramento’s recent combination of carrot and stick legislation has led to more by-right housing approvals, but the housing shortage will not be solved by Sacramento.

We need elected leaders in local government willing to make room for the next generation by approving new townhomes, condos and apartments in their communities. Cities in Orange County have already identified sites for new housing through their housing plans, also called Housing Elements, and most have been approved by the state Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD).

This fall will give city council members an opportunity to “make good” on the commitments made in their city housing elements and for voters to make room for the next generation by supporting pro-housing council members and candidates. Right now, there are housing developments working their way through the entitlements process, and they will be coming soon to a city council hearing near you!

There are large, innovative projects like Related Bristol (Santa Ana) and the Magnolia Tank Farm (Huntington Beach), which as of this writing are scheduled for City Council consideration on the same night– September 17th. While these high-profile projects are the definite headliners, smaller projects in cities that steadily deliver on housing, like Anaheim, Brea, Buena Park and Irvine are also moving forward. If you vote in those cities AND you care about where your children and grandchildren will live (and you don’t want it to be with you), then tell your city council members you support new housing and want them to approve the projects coming before them.

If you live in a smaller city, where new residential development opportunities come along less frequently (in some cases decades), THIS might just be your year! Aliso Viejo is mulling over a 300+ unit apartment building on an existing commercial parking lot in the city’s aging shopping district. Fountain Valley will consider new townhomes and attached-single-family homes, along with 400 apartments on an 18-acre site, and Los Alamitos will consider the redevelopment of an old office building and parking lot into both for-sale townhomes and affordable rental homes.

Each of these project sites was identified in the city’s respective Housing Element as a way to meet its state housing goal (RHNA). Why does that matter? Because it was the promise of new housing on those properties that lead the State to approve the city’s Housing Element. Without a “compliant” Housing Element, scary things can happen, like Builders Remedy or lawsuits against the city from housing law advocacy organizations. Long-term non-compliance with the state housing law could result in a city having its Housing Element decertified, loss of state funding, and loss of city’s ability to issue building permits for existing residents and businesses. All of these outcomes are undesirable regardless of which side of the political aisle you stand on.

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This election season, remember that city council members not only play a role in shaping your quality of life today, but their decisions to allow or deny new housing will have a direct impact on the ability of your children or grandchildren to remain in Orange County. So, what can you do? Talk to your current council members; send them an email telling them to support the housing developments that are coming before them this fall. Talk to your council candidates. If they say they support housing, ask them where the city plans to accommodate that development. Have they read their city’s Housing Element? How do they plan to engage in the process to bring new housing opportunities to your community?

This fall will not just be a presidential election year with a list of down ballot races. It will be a proving ground for housing elements and a test of our collective will to make room for the next generation. Almost every city in Orange County has gotten into compliance with HCD, and two cities — Cypress and Yorba Linda — actually have their Housing Elements on the ballot for voter approval.

Now the question is, will the sitting city councils follow through on their commitments to permit housing on the sites they identified? Will we – voting residents, parents and grandparents– have the courage to vote out the ones that don’t?

Elizabeth Hansburg is the Co-founder and Executive Director of People for Housing Orange County. She lives in Fullerton where she served on the planning commission. She can be reached at elizabeth@peopleforhousing.org

​ Orange County Register 

Daxon: Brea utility terrain vehicle has had some use by the Fire Department

• September 5, 2024

Hiking and mountain biking around some the 90 miles of trails in Chino Hills State Park is a great way to enjoy the beauty of the state park and get some exercise.

Lots of fun until, ouch! You have an unexpected stumble, slid into a gully and now your ankle is throbbing and hurts if you try to move it.  There is no way you can’t make it back to the trailhead.

How do you get help? And how can someone locate you?

Brea’s Fire Department is ready for any hiking emergency, thanks to their trained emergency personnel and a very cool utility terrain vehicle, or UTV.  I recently got to ride along in the UTV with Capt. Bill Schaefer and firefighters Dillon Fetty, Mason Fishback and Chase Kayl.

While I wasn’t along on an actual rescue operation I experienced first hand the rough and wild terrain they have to traverse in the UTV to reach downed hikers and mountain bikers within the 14,000 acres of Chino Hills State Park and the other hills surrounding Brea.

According to Fire Chief Mark Terrill, the UTV was purchased in 2018 for $31,252.

“The cost of the vehicle was partially funded by projected Fire Department savings of $14,251 and $17,000 in donations received,” said Terrill.

Capt. Schaefer added that the donations came from three sources: Walmart, FlexFit and Bright Energy. And the names of all three of the Brea businesses are on the UTV.

So far, 16 people have been rescued with the UTV, and remote rescues are its primary use. Terrill noted that it is also used for fire road maintenance, surveys, training and mutual aid.

“For mutual aid purposes,” said Terrill, “the Brea Fire Department has worked together with the cities of Chino Hills, Yorba Linda and Fullerton, as well as the Huntington Beach Air Show and various city of Brea events.”

Maybe you saw it at last month’s National Night Out on Birch Street in Brea Downtown, like I did.

It is big, bright red and for sure a very welcomed sight to injured hikers and bikers.

And speaking of bikers, especially those of you who own big-ticket mountain bikes, the UTV has a large metal panel mounted on the hood where that pricy mountain bike can safely be secured while its injured owner is seated or on a stretcher inside the UTV. Schaefer noted that mountain bike owners never want to leave without their bikes.  Especially since many of them cost $10,000 or more.

While the UTV was fun to ride in, I sure don’t want to ride in it because of an injury or emergency while hiking in the hills. One thing the crew emphatically emphasized was for hikers, bikers and anyone coming out to enjoy the beauty of the state park and its view of the surrounding terrain is to make sure they have enough water and to drink it.

Dehydration can make you feel dizzy, lightheaded, tired and with a dry mouth. Not good in the middle of hike or while mountain biking through rugged hills or anywhere.

Something else Schaefer emphasized was to always let someone know where you will be hiking, especially when hiking alone. Never go hiking without letting anyone know. Your life could depend on it.

He also said to note the mile markers on the hiking trails, have a map and use the what3words app. Schaefer showed me how they use it to easily reach a location. It is very precise and while I downloaded the app I am still learning how to use it.

Be sure you can properly use your navigation tools before taking that first step on the hiking trail. And do to tell someone!

Terri Daxon is a freelance writer and the owner of Daxon Marketing Communications. She gives her perspective on Brea issues twice a month.

​ Orange County Register 

Hunter Biden is prepared to plead guilty, attorney says, as judge pauses LA tax trial

• September 5, 2024

By FRED SHUSTER

Just as jury selection was set to begin Thursday in Hunter Biden’s tax evasion trial in downtown Los Angeles, an attorney for the president’s son indicated that Biden is prepared to plead guilty in the case.

The announcement by attorney Abbe Lowell prompted U.S. District Judge Mark Scarsi to recess proceedings for two hours, with the attorneys expected to discuss the possibility of a plea deal and reconvene in a downtown courtroom late Thursday morning.

Lowell indicated that Biden, 54, of Malibu, was willing to enter a guilty plea, although he would continue to maintain his innocence. It remained unclear exactly which counts, if not all, Biden was willing to enter guilty pleas for.

Biden is facing nine tax-related counts — three felonies and six misdemeanors — of failing to pay more than $1.4 million in taxes. Prosecutors contend in the indictment that Biden “spent millions of dollars on an extravagant lifestyle rather than paying his tax bills,” the indictment alleges.

Defense lawyers say they believe the case was brought “in direct response to political pressure,” according to filings in Los Angeles federal court.

Hunter Biden’s attorneys said the defendant has repaid the government $2 million in back taxes and penalties. He is charged with evading a tax assessment, failing to file and pay taxes, and filing a false or fraudulent tax return.

His trial was expected to last two weeks, with opening statements anticipated Monday in the courtroom of Scarsi, an appointee of former President Donald Trump.

Evidence of the younger Biden’s partying during a period when he was admittedly using crack cocaine and allegedly willfully failing to pay more than $1.4 million in taxes may become part of the trial, federal prosecutors indicated.

Scarsi previously rejected Hunter Biden’s bid to toss the case after the defendant sought to argue that David Weiss, the special counsel overseeing the prosecution, was improperly appointed.

The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Biden’s request to revive a bid to have the charges against him dismissed.

Regarding the tax charges, the 56-page indictment alleges that between 2016 and Oct. 15, 2020, “the defendant spent this money on drugs, escorts and girlfriends, luxury hotels and rental properties, exotic cars, clothing and other items of a personal nature, in short, everything but his taxes.”

Hunter Biden’s defense attorney, veteran Los Angeles criminal lawyer Mark Geragos, unsuccessfully petitioned the court to allow testimony that the death of the defendant’s mother and sister in a 1972 car crash and the death of his brother from cancer in 2015 caused him to ignore his tax obligations.

This is Hunter Biden’s second federal criminal case of 2024. In June, the president’s son was convicted of three felony charges in a separate case brought in Delaware stemming from his 2018 purchase of a gun. Hunter Biden was found guilty of having lied on a mandatory gun-purchase form by saying he was not illegally using or addicted to drugs — when, in fact, he later admitted to having been addicted to illegal narcotics at the time.

Court papers show Hunter Biden is scheduled to be sentenced in the Delaware gun case on Nov. 13, in the week after the presidential election.

Described in the indictment as a Georgetown- and Yale-educated lawyer, lobbyist, consultant and businessperson, Hunter Biden served on the board of a Ukrainian industrial conglomerate and a Chinese private equity fund during the time of the tax allegations.

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“He negotiated and executed contracts and agreements for business and legal services that paid millions of dollars of compensation to him and/or his domestic corporations, Owasco PC and Owasco LLC,” according to the indictment for tax evasion.

In addition to his business interests, the defendant was an employee of a multinational law firm, the document states.

Hunter Biden has said he had forgotten to pay his taxes during a period when he was in the grip of drug addiction.

​ Orange County Register 

Angel City FC’s Christen Press continues joyful comeback

• September 5, 2024

For the first time since tearing her ACL on June 11, 2022, Angel City Football Club’s Christen Press made her return to competition Aug. 1 during the NWSL Summer Cup.

On Aug. 24, she played in her first NWSL regular-season game. And on Sunday, her comeback reached another milestone, playing in a regular-season game at BMO Stadium for the first time in 819 days.

“It’s so special being back here,” Press, 35, said Sunday. “It’s been quite the journey, from the last time I remember suiting up and playing in a game here.

“There’s no place like this. The most amazing fans and community, so to be back and playing in front of everybody, it’s been a joy. You can probably see on my face when I’m playing, I’m ear-to-ear smiling because I’m just able to slow a bit and feel it and smell it.”

After enduring four knee surgeries due to complications, Press has now played four consecutive games, including the last two in the Summer Cup. Sunday, she entered in the 70th minute and tallied her longest stint, playing the final 20 minutes plus eight minutes of stoppage time.

“No matter where you are in your journey, you have this perspective of the gap between where you are and where you think you can be, that’s how I felt at the very top of my game,” Press said .”Through the course of my recovery, it was, ‘Getting stronger. OK, now you have to get fit. OK, great, now you have to get some technique back.’ And so there’s always a yearning for improvement.”

“I definitely feel like I have young legs, like a young Bambi, where I’m out there and I’m playing these games in my mind of what it feels like to be at this level and to play at this speed. I think often just with my personality and how I am, I feel I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be and exactly who I am. I know what kind of player I am.

“I never missed a beat in terms of how I like to receive the ball, how I know I can score goals. It didn’t take long for me to feel strong and confident in that. So I think, the big things for me now are getting fitness so I can get clear for more minutes and game experience, so that I can feel more confident and stronger on the field.”

Press and Angel City (6-9-3) continue their two-game homestand Friday as the Seattle Reign (4-9-5) visits BMO Stadium. Angel City is 5-1-1 in their last seven games across all competitions.

“We talked about it before the game that we’re excited to play proper minutes together,” ACFC forward Sydney Leroux said. “It’s was really nice to be on the field back with (Christen) Press. I’m so proud of her and her recovery. I’ve seen the last two years when it’s been tough.”

Angel City sits in ninth place, but tied at 21 points with Bay FC, which holds the eighth and final playoff spot with eight games remaining.

BAY, IGER OFFICIALLY ON BOARD

Willow Bay and Bob Iger are officially the new controlling owners of Angel City FC, the club announced Thursday. The deal was unanimously approved by the NWSL’s Board of Governors.

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The transaction values Angel City at $250 million, the highest ever for women’s professional sports team. The deal also includes an additional $50 million “capital injection to support the club’s operations and growth goals.”

Iger is the CEO of Disney and Bay is the deal of USC Annenberg.

SEATTLE REIGN at ANGEL CITY FC

When: 7 p.m. Friday

Where: BMO Stadium

How to watch: Prime Video

​ Orange County Register